Formby Point Again

Not the warmest of days for a trip to the beach, but that has never stopped us before! A Thermos of tea and cardigans to keep off the breeze and we enjoyed a lovely picnic before building a big fort in the sand. Alex, of course, couldn't resist trying out the water!

Hanchurch Hills

We took a walk through the woods at Hanchurch Hills, on Saturday. We were missing Tom as he was spending a couple of days with his grandparents, but the rest of us had a really lovely walk. I love woodland walks!

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Pebble Painting

The girls and I passed a rainy afternoon this week painting the pebbles we had gathered on our trip to Sussex. It is hard to say who had more fun, me or the children!

Beech Hurst

We spent our last couple of hours in Sussex in Beech Hurst Gardens in Haywards Heath. Mark and his parents have fond memories of this park and Mark has fond memories of riding the minature railway there. We couldn't leave without giving the Podlings (and Mark!) a chance to ride the little steam train. Alex and I watched as the big kids (and I include Mark in that!) had a lovely ride around the park. We finished up with a picnic tea and the Podlings played in the playground  until it was time to start the long drive back to Staffordshire. It was a lovely way to end a delightful weekend.

Nymans

On the last day of our long weekend in Sussex we visited Nymans, near Haywards Heath. The home of the Messel family from the late 19th century, the property was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1953. The house was badly damaged by fire in 1947 and now stands as a gothic ruin in the beautiful garden. Part of the house was rebuilt and was the home of Anne Messel until her death in 1992. You can now see inside some of those rooms, some of which are largely as she left them. Mark and I came here many years ago and it was lovely to return again with our family.

We had a lovely visit here and I took a quite shocking number of photographs. The romantic ruin standing amidst such beautiful grounds was quite inspiring. It must be strange living in a largely ruined house. I think you couldn't have too much imagination if you wanted to live there and remain quite sane! I loved it here (hence the large number of photos!) and I would have loved more time to explore the grounds.

We stopped to enjoy some ice cream. Can you guess what flavour Emma had?

Lancing

We ended the second day of our trip to Sussex with fish and chips on Lancing beach. Mark was born in Sussex and lived in nearby Sompting for the first five years of his life. We drove past the house where he lived and acquired the fish and chips from the little chip shop around the corner. We enjoyed our fish supper on the beach and then took the Podlings to the recreation ground, where they played until it was too dark to see. The fabulous playground was probably the Podlings' favourite part of the whole weekend, but I don't have any pictures as I had put the camera away so I could just play with my babies (yes, I do occasionally put the camera away!). 

The boys playing ball

Little man loves fish and chips

"Mile upon mile of glorious golden sand!" - Mark's frequent affirmation whenever we are on a Sussex beach

To give you an idea of aforementioned golden sand!

"Car!" Alex has one word and he uses it a lot. He is absolutely obsessed with cars (anything with wheels really) and always points and exclaims 'Car!' whenever he sees one. I love that I was able to catch him in mid-"car!" in this picture.

Ditchling Beacon

On the way to the beach for our fish supper, we stopped at Ditchling Beacon to enjoy a quick walk. The highest point in East Sussex, Ditchling Beacon offers breathtaking views of open countryside and is one of the prettiest spots you could ever hope to come across. Alex had fallen asleep in the car on the way there, so I offered to stay in the car with him whilst everyone else went for a walk. I had the most enjoyable time looking out of the window at the amazing view whilst indulging in that rarest of things, my own thoughts. As a busy mother of four I get very little time to just sit and contemplate and I passed the most pleasant half an hour whilst my baby slumbered peacefully behind me. The others had a wonderful walk and the Podlings had a great time playing in the long grass. I think we all have wonderful memories of our visit to Ditchling Beacon, except Alexander who slept the entire time!

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